Ontario plan a start, but not an end to London housing crisis: Expert

The new plan by the government of Premier Doug Ford to boost housing supply is likely to provide some relief in London, where a tight housing market is creating an affordability crisis, a housing advocate says

The new plan by the government of Premier Doug Ford to boost housing supply is likely to provide some relief in London, where a tight housing market is creating an affordability crisis, a housing advocate says, but the bevy of changes ushered in by the provincial government still is missing a direct strategy to address a devastating lack of truly affordable units.

Changes to housing rules – including slashing or eliminating some fees for builders, reverting to previous rules for ruling on land use disputes, and lowering the price tag to add granny flats – may make it easier to build and buy homes, but won’t necessarily address climbing prices that are out of reach for many Londoners, the London Homeless Coalition’s Abe Oudshoorn said.

“For helping folks get out of shelter, helping folks find that permanent home, we need a specific focus on affordability, specific tools to create affordable units, not just more units,” he said. “This strategy is just the government hoping that stock will create more affordability.”

The vacancy rate in 2018 in London was 2.1 per cent, up from an 18-year low of 1.8 per cent in 2017. Rent on a two-bedroom apartment averages more than $1,080 and housing prices continue to climb.

The Ontario government’s plan, dubbed the housing supply action plan, also includes some good news for London and other affordable housing-strapped communities.

Rental and non-profit housing builders can put off paying development charges – the fees collected by city hall to pay for a growing city – for five years.

There’s also incentives to encourage secondary units such as basement or garage apartments by removing development charges – a hot-button issue in London because of the fear those “granny flats” would be rented to rowdy students in neighbourhoods near Western University and Fanshawe College.

Secondary units meet twin goals of increasing stock and intensifying residential areas, a chief goal of the city’s blueprint for growth during the next two decades, Oudshoorn said.

“Secondary dwelling units provide that promise of increased stock and increased stock in the area of the city that may be more connected by transit or where people live, work and go to school,” he said.

“Having the provincial government really setting a clear direction for making secondary dwelling units a priority – and as easy to develop as possible – is definitely a positive,” though he said there’s no guarantee rents for those units, set by the owner, would be affordable.

Ward 6 Coun. Phil Squire, who argued for limits on the so-called secondary dwelling units in communities near post-secondary institutions – he represents Western and surrounding neighbourhoods – when the issue created tension during the last term of council, said he still wants to take a cautious approach.

“The idea obviously is to increase the housing stock and particularly the housing stock at a more reasonable price, a more affordable price. I don’t have any problem with that and I don’t think anyone does. But in the near-campus neighbourhoods . . . just expanding it and opening it right up will be a challenge.”

Oudshoorn said it’s likely Londoners will continue the “conversation” about how to navigate building more secondary units in areas already saturated with short-term rentals.

But the recent public focus on affordable housing – and the consequences in London, where more than 4,000 are on a waitlist for rent-geared-to-income units with thousands of others looking for modest rents – may have softened that division and debate, he said.

“I do think the general understanding of the housing need has grown. I think there’s a strong awareness across our community about a lack of both stock and availability. Perhaps that will translate to more willingness to explore how we address those issues,” Oudshoorn said.

He also pointed to increased number of adjudicators at the Landlord Tenant Board, which deals with disputes or claims for those in the rental market, including evictions and cases where tenants have challenged their landlords.

Oudshoorn hopes that will increase the speed at which those cases are heard.

“If the tenant is going to ultimately win and discover maybe they’re owed something back or they can remain in their housing or the landlord is going to be forced to improve heat, windows, or something else wrong with the unit, sitting and waiting for adjudication in their case does no one any good,” he said.

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